3 days and 3 nights in the Heart of the Earth?

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

Much debate and confusion exists around Jesus' 3 days and 3 nights in the Heart of the Earth. The answer to this is simpler than many believe. Here are the relevant verses:

Matthew 12
39He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Mark 15:42-43
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

Matthew 28:1
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Jesus died at about 3pm on the 14th Aviv (Preparation day). He was put in the tomb just before sunset at about 6pm which began the Sabbath. The day after the Sabbath He rose at sunrise on the 16th Aviv (The day of First Fruits) at about 6am. This means He was in the tomb for 3 days and 2 nights at most (about 36 hours). However the term 'Heart of the Earth' that Jesus spoke of was not the tomb. The Bible interprets the Bible and elsewhere we can find what Jesus meant by this phrase:

Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts; murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Therefore Jesus was talking about the wickedness of the whole Earth. The moment Jesus entered the wicked heart of the Earth was when He allowed Himself to be arrested and this is what He said at that moment:

Luke 22:53
“Every day I was with you in the temple courts and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour--when darkness reigns."

So it is from this moment that Jesus enters into the Heart of the Earth, which was around midnight on the 14th Aviv and means that He was indeed in the Heart of the Earth three days and three nights.

 

[jamie]

How long was Jesus' tomb sealed and guarded?

 

[Jerry Shugart]

Jesus died at about 3pm on the 14th Aviv

Was not the day when the passover lambs were killed the 14th (Mk.14:12)?

Then when the evening of that day came the Apostles sat down to eat with the Lord (Mk.14:17-18).

If the day started in the evening then the Lord Jesus was still alive when the 15th arrived. But you say that He died on the 14th!

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

How long was Jesus' tomb sealed and guarded?

Matthew 27
57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The stone is rolled in front at about 6pm on the 14th.

62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” 65“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

The guard was posted the next day on the 15th Aviv.

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

Was not the day when the passover lambs were killed the 14th (Mk.14:12)?

Then when the evening of that day came the Apostles sat down to eat with the Lord (Mk.14:17-18).

If the day started in the evening then the Lord Jesus was still alive when the 15th arrived. But you say that He died on the 14th!

Mark 14:12
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

Traditionally the first day of the Festival of unleavened Bread was the 13th Aviv, this was in accordance with the little known fast of Esther which memorialised when Esther fasted from the evening when the 13th was ending to the evening when the 16th was ending, in order to have the Lords favour and save her fellow Jewish people. The fast of Esther began on the evening of the 14th Aviv and lasted three days:

Esther 3:12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned.

Later that day:

Esther 4:15-16
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Esther broke with tradition and rather than eat the Passover meal she decided to fast in the hope of receiving God’s Favour, as she was about to break a law that could have resulted in her receiving a death sentence. After the last supper Jesus also fasted over these same three days, ending on the evening of the 16th day as the sunset, when He broke bread with Cleopas and the other disciple in Emmaus. He then immediately appeared to the eleven disciples in the upper room that night and asked for some broiled fish to eat. His disciples also fasted over that time just as Jesus had said they would:

Mark 2:19-20
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

The last supper was prepared on the 13th when Jesus sent his disciples in to meet the man carrying the water and to go to the upper room to prepare the supper.

Mark 14:12
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

If you read carefully it isn't saying the lamb was sacrificed on this day but is saying that it was customary to sacrifice the lamb at the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

As the sun set and the 14th began they sat down to eat.

Mark 14:17-18
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

 

[Jerry Shugart]

Traditionally the first day of the Festival of unleavened Bread was the 13th Aviv,

I do not believe that the Lord Jesus would partake of any Jewish Seder which went against the idea that the passover lambs were killed on any day except the 14th (Ex.12:6).

Are you actually arguing that the passover lamb was killed on the 13th despite the fact that according to the Scriptures it was to be killed on the 14th?

If you read carefully it isn't saying the lamb was sacrificed on this day but is saying that it was customary to sacrifice the lamb at the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

The first day of the feast of unleavened bread was on the 15th (Lev.23:6) so if you are right then the passover lambs were not killed until the 15th. But you are saying that the lambs were killed on the 13th!

 

[jamie]

The Passover was killed between the evenings on the 14th.

Jesus was the Passover Lamb and he died on the 14th between the evenings.

The Passover lambs were roasted and eaten after sundown.

This meal became a memorial for Israel forever.

Any of the meal not eaten that night must be burned.

 

[WeberHome]

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I do not believe that the Lord Jesus would partake of any Jewish Seder which went against the idea that the passover lambs were killed on any day except the 14th (Ex.12:6).

Christ was a prophet in direct contact with God at all times; so he would've been privy to the precise instant when Passover should begin.

Seeing as that's the case, then I think it's pretty safe to assume that the Jews' religious calendar was running a day behind that year: whether by design or by accident I don't know.

/

 

[Jerry Shugart]

Christ was a prophet in direct contact with God at all times; so he would've been privy to the precise instant when Passover should begin.

The Lord Jesus was born under the law and He kept the law. And according to the law the Passover lambs were killed on the 14th day.

 

[WeberHome]

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The Lord Jesus was born under the law and He kept the law. And according to the law the Passover lambs were killed on the 14th day.

People's fixation on calendar dates sometimes causes them to overlook the fact that Christ ate his own Passover a day ahead of the Jews.

/

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

I do not believe that the Lord Jesus would partake of any Jewish Seder which went against the idea that the passover lambs were killed on any day except the 14th (Ex.12:6).

Are you actually arguing that the passover lamb was killed on the 13th despite the fact that according to the Scriptures it was to be killed on the 14th?



The first day of the feast of unleavened bread was on the 15th (Lev.23:6) so if you are right then the passover lambs were not killed until the 15th. But you are saying that the lambs were killed on the 13th!

I'm saying that while the Passover lamb is always killed on the 14th and eaten that night on the 15th, there was however some Jews who would eat a 'last supper' on the 13th and as the sun set to the 14th but would then fast for three days till just after the sunset on the 16th. This was in memory and recognition of the fast of Esther, who refused to eat the Passover meal in order to gain God's favour and save the Jewish people from being wiped out.

This is little know in Christian circles but is know to the Jews. Jesus and I believe the Essenes used to practice this fast. Jesus specifically referred to His fast:

Mark 2:19-20
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

The last supper was prepared on the 13th when Jesus sent his disciples in to meet the man carrying the water and to go to the upper room to prepare the supper. Then as the sunset on the 16th Jesus broke his three day fast:

Luke 24:35
Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Luke 24:42
They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Water collection was woman's work but the Essenes were a men only sect, so they had to carry water! The upper room was most probably run and owned by Essenes.

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

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